JetBlue Lays Out Plans for New First-Class Seats on Domestic Flights

20.12.2024 - 18:57 / afar.com / Marty St George

JetBlue plans to add a new first-class cabin, with larger seats and more legroom, to its domestic flights in the coming years.

Specifically, the new first class will be retrofitted onto JetBlue’s Airbus planes that don’t currently include its top-tier Mint class, JetBlue’s version of business class, which is known for its spacious lie-flat seats and premium food service. The existing Mint seats are limited to a handful of routes, including transatlantic flights and select transcontinental flights, such as New York to Los Angeles. In a note to employees, JetBlue’s president, Marty St. George, said Mint “can’t be duplicated on shorter flights”—thus, this forthcoming first class is the work-around.

Dubbed “Junior Mint” or “Mini Mint,” the new seats will be similar to the front-of-the-plane seats offered by American, Alaska, Delta, and United on domestic flights, with a two-by-two configuration, offering more depth, width, and a deeper recline. On the airline’s A321neo, A321ceo, and A320 aircraft, there will be three rows of the new seats, while the A220 planes will have two rows. There’s no word yet on the exact seat dimensions nor information on how much they will cost to purchase, but the changes are expected to start rolling out in 2026.

Currently, JetBlue’s domestic flights’ most premium seating choice is the “Even More Space” seats, which have four or five additional inches of legroom, depending on the aircraft. However, once reconfigured with first class, the jets might offer less legroom for those seated in economy—the carrier is known for providing the most legroom in coach. Air travel and loyalty expert Ben Schlappig of the One Mile at a Time blog opined that the move is a smart one for JetBlue, even if it will mean putting a bit of a squeeze on economy seats.

“The demand for premium products is strong, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon,” wrote Schlappig, adding that “JetBlue operates in lots of premium markets while not offering a first class product; for example, there’s huge demand for this between New York and Florida, which is a big market for JetBlue.”

According to Schlappig’s recent post, here’s an example of what the new configurations would mean for the rest of the plane. The carrier’s Airbus A220s, for instance, currently has 140 economy seats. Once redone, it would feature 143 seats, including 8 first-class seats and 135 economy-class seats. To do that, JetBlue will need to reduce the pitch (the space between one point on an aircraft passenger seat to the same point on the seat in front of it) from 32 inches to 30 inches. JetBlue would not confirm this breakdown.

“Customer demand for premium options is stronger than ever,” JetBlue wrote in a statement shared with Afar.